Please come now I think I'm falling
I'm holding on to all I think is safe
It seems I found the road to nowhere
And I'm trying to escape
I yelled back when I heard thunder
But I'm down to one last breath
And with it let me say
Let me sayHold me now
I'm six feet from the edge and I'm thinking
maybe six feet
Ain't so far downI'm looking down now that it's over
Reflecting on all of my mistakes
I thought I found the road to somewhere
Somewhere in His grace
I cried out heaven save me
But I'm down to one last breath
ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE – PART ONE
Diner, Unknown Location
Beth's POV
I pulled the motorcycle to a skidding halt in front of the diner, grimacing at the wet ground. It had been raining, not the best time to be out on a bike, but then, you didn't always get a choice about that. I glanced back at the Impala coming to a stop behind me and thought about how nice and warm it would be inside the back seat right now, with the added bonus that Dean could drive and I could sleep. I made up my mind, next storage unit we came across, I was ditching the bike again. The Impala had made me soft.
Until then, I had other things on my mind. I dismounted the bike giggling like a teenaged school girl. Dean had exited the Impala and looked over at me with a raised eyebrow.
"What's so funny?" He asked, and I grinned at him, pulling my latest purchase from my jacket pocket.
I sidled up to him and gave a cheeky grin. He leaned in to kiss me and I held up my hand.
"Wait... wait!" I said and he looked back at me, almost in shock.
I uncapped the lip gloss I'd purchased at the last fuel stop and ran it over my lips, pursing them together and then smiling at Dean.
"OK. Kiss me." I said to him, biting my bottom lip a little.
"Well you don't have to ask me twice," Dean said with a grin, leaning in to brush his lips against mine, running his tongue over the small welt where I'd been chewing my bottom lip.
He pulled back with a surprised look. "Mmmm," he said, then he leaned in and kissed me again. "What is that?" He murmured.
I threw him another cheeky grin. "It's called... Dutch Apple Pie," I informed him and he chuckled, leaning in to kiss me again.
"Mmm... put some more on." He said, practically eating me up as he lifted me up on to the hood of the car so we were level with each other and I could wrap my legs around his waist.
Sam got out and sighed at us, clearing his throat. "Do you guys ever stop?!" He said, rolling his eyes.
He started to go into the diner and Dean stopped kissing me long enough to hold out a hand in his direction.
"Mmm, mmm wait! Hey, don't forget the extra onions this time, huh?" Dean said to Sam.
"Dude, I'm the one who has to kiss your extra onions!" I said with a short laugh. Dean grinned and claimed my lips again, silencing that thought. Sam shook his head and I pulled away this time.
"Sam! See if they've got any pie!" I said to him and he glared back at us, walking toward the entrance to the diner. Dean was uncapping the lipgloss and applying another layer to my lips. "Bring me some pie. I love me some pie," he said before licking along my upper lip with his tongue, moaning.
The radio was still playing on the Impala, Dean had left the car running, and as Sam entered the diner there was a strange static that washed out the music. Dean frowned, pulling away from me, and leaning in the open window to fiddle with the tuner, the radio turned completely off by its own accord.
I frowned and saw Dean look up toward the diner, his eyes widening. I spun around and realised the same thing he had. The diner was suddenly completely empty. No waiter. No other diners. More frighteningly, no Sam.
I was off the hood in an instant, pulling a handgun out of one of the saddle bags on my bike. Dean was ahead of me, having pulled his gun from his waistband. He led the way into the diner, gun drawn and ready. As we entered the diner, one customer was face down in a puddle of blood at the booth nearest us.
"Sam?" I called out, my grip tightening on the gun.
Dean skipped ahead of me, opening the back door and looking around while I checked behind the counter. There were two employees on the floor, dead; their throats had been slit.
"Sam?!" Dean called out the back door. He waited a moment in case there was a response, and then he came back inside. I watched as he touched something on the door that drew his attention.
"What is it?" I asked, he looked up at me shocked.
"Sulphur," he said to me, holding a finger up covered in a white substance.
I swallowed hard and headed back out to the Impala. "Sam! Sammy!" I yelled louder this time, now feeling a lot more panicked. "Sammy!" Dean had followed me and was yelling for Sam too, there was no response.
"What the hell just happened here?" I asked Dean, he looked at me, a worried expression on his face. Sam had just vanished, and we were none the wiser as to how or why.
Unknown Location
Sam's POV
I didn't know how I got here: one minute I was in the diner ordering pie for Beth, and the next I was lying on the cold hard ground, surrounded by what seemed to be abandoned buildings. I gingerly tested my limbs and nothing seemed broken or otherwise impaired so I climbed to my feet. Reaching for my phone, I pulled it out and held it up. No reception. Great. Where the Hell was I?
I could have been standing in the middle of some old western movie set, the town looked like it had seen better days, it was now abandoned, the weatherboard houses all derelict and run down. There wasn't a modern convenience in sight. How long had this town been left to rot?
I wandered around the streets, going into a few buildings that weren't locked or boarded up. I heard a noise, and grabbed a nearby piece of timber, the best weapon I could find, inching my way along one of the front porches of a shop. I prepared to swing the plank when Andy Gallagher walked around the corner. He saw me and flinched, falling back against the building opposite me. I jumped back, startled to see him.
"Andy?" I said. He looked surprised and relieved at the same time.
"Sam! What are you doing here?" He asked in a high pitched voice, rushing over to me.
"I don't know," I replied, lowering the plank of wood.
"What am I doing here?!" He asked, gesturing to himself.
"I don't know," I said, getting a bad feeling in my stomach.
"Where are we?!" Andy said even more urgently, he was clearly starting to panic.
"Andy, look, calm down," I said to him. I tossed the wood to the ground, wiping the dirt from my hands on to my pants.
"I can't calm down!" Andy said, waving his hands around in the air. "I just woke up in freaking Frontierland!" He covered his eyes with his hands, breathing erratically.
"What's the last thing you remember?" I asked him. Andy continued to hold his head as if he had a migraine coming on.
"Honestly? My fourth bong load," he said he said shaking his head. "It was weird, all of a sudden there was this really intense smell. Like, uh..." he struggled to find the word.
"Like sulphur?" I asked him.
"How did you know that?" Andy asked.
I thought about it. "Dean.." I said.
"Your brother – is he here?!" Andy asked urgently.
"Uh, I don't know where his is, Beth either. I don't know if they're..."
There was a scream and I spun around to look in its direction. I started to run in its direction, approaching yet another deserted building. There was a woman screaming and banging on the inside of the building. The door was padlocked.
"Hello?" I called out.
"Help me! Help me, please!" She called out when she heard me, still banging on the door.
"Okay, I'm here. We're gonna get you out, all right? Just hold on a second!" I said, looking around for something to smash the padlock with.
"Please!" The woman called out again. I spotted a large rock nearby and grabbed it, taking aim at the padlock and smashing it. It broke and I was able to undo it. I pulled open the door and saw big blue eyes staring out at me.
"Ava?!" I said, gasping when I recognised her.
"Oh my God! Sam!" She threw herself into my arms, giving me a giant hug, starting to sob.
"So... I guess you guys know each other," Andy said from behind us. Ava pulled away from me, ignoring Andy.
"Yeah," I said, nodding.
"How did you – I mean, how did you - " Ava was stuttering, unable to get her question out.
"Ava, have you been here this whole time?" I asked her. She'd been gone so long I'd given up trying to find her. I'd looked everywhere it seemed, she had just vanished without a trace.
"What whole time? I just woke up in there, like, half an hour ago," Ava said still sobbing.
"Well, you've been gone for five months. We've been looking for you everywhere." I said to her.
"Okay, that's impossible," Ava said, starting to calm down and pull herself together. "Because I saw you two days ago," she finished.
"You didn't. I'm sorry," I said to her, watching as the realisation of what I was saying started to sink in.
"But...that makes no sense. That's not – oh my God! My fiancee, Brady! If I've been missing for that long, he must be freaking out!" Ava said, starting to pace.
"Well..." I said, not sure how to break the news to her. Ava noticed Andy for the first time and turned to look at him, confused.
"Hey. Andy. Also freaking out," said Andy, introducing himself with a half-smile.
"Okay." Ava said, looking back at me. "What's happening?"
"I don't really know yet. But I know one thing: I know what the three of us have in common," I said, and I really, really didn't like what that might mean.
A man's voice called out in the distance, echoing through the street.
"Hello? Is anybody there?"
"Maybe more than three," I said, starting to jog toward the voice. A dark skinned guy rounded the corner of a building with a girl in tow. He was dressed in battle fatigues, and looked like he'd just walked off a military detail. The girl was dressed in a black coat, dark eye makeup on, and straight light brown hair.
"Hello? Hey! Hey, you guys all right?" I asked them, coming to a stop.
"I think so," said the guy, nodding, he was looking around, taking in our surroundings. Definitely military.
"I'm Sam," I said, introducing myself.
"I'm Jake," he said back to me.
"Lily," said the girl
"Are there anymore of you?" I asked.
"No," Jake answered me.
"How did we even get here?" Lily asked. "A minute ago, I was in San Diego."
"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I went to sleep last night in Afghanistan," Jake said, looking at us all.
"Let me take a wild guess: you two are both twenty-three?" They looked at me a little startled. "We all are," I said. "And we all have... abilities."
"What?" Jake asked, looking at me with a frown.
"It started a little over a year ago? You found you could do things? Things you didn't think were possible?" They both nodded at me. I gestured to myself. "I have visions. I see things before they happen."
"Yeah. Me, too," Ava said, nodding.
"Yeah, and I can put thoughts into people's heads. Like, make them do stuff. But don't worry, I don't think it works on you guys." Andy said. "Oh, but get this – I've been practicing. Training my brain, like meditation. So now, it's not just thoughts I can beam out, but images, too. Like, anything I want. Bam! People see it. This one guy I know – total dick, right? I used it on him: gay porn. All hours of the day." He laughed, almost stopping his rambling, but not quite. "It was just like... you should have seen the look on his face."
Everyone looked at Andy slightly horrified by what he'd said. He took a step back.
"Uh... okay." He said, falling silent and coming to stand by me and Ava.
"So, you go, 'Simon says give me your wallet', and they do?" Lily said to Andy with a smirk. She looked at me. "You have visions? That's great! I'd kill for something like that."
"Lily, listen, it's okay," I said to her, she flashed angry eyes in my direction.
"No. It's not. I touch people? Their hearts stop. I can barely leave my house. My life's not exactly improved. So, screw you. I just wanna go home," she said angrily.
"And what, we don't?" Jake asked indignantly.
"You know what, don't talk to me like that..." Lily said frowning.
"Hey, guys, please. Look, whether we like it or not, we're all here, and so we all have to deal with this." I said to them.
"Who brought us here?" Andy asked.
"It's less of a 'who'. It's more of a 'what'." I answered, shifting uncomfortably. This is where it would get ugly, they were about to start seeing me as a stark raving lunatic.
"What does that mean?" Ava asked.
I paused, not sure I really wanted to get into it, but they deserved to know. "It's uh...It's a demon," I said pointedly.
Side of the Highway
Unknown Location
Beth's POV
Bobby had met us to start a search. We were parked by the side of the road with the Impala and his big blue truck, which was currently holding my motorcycle – I was sending it back to Bobby's for a hiatus, again. Right now we were poring over a map. I pulled my jacket tighter around me, trying to ward out the chill that had set in.
"This is it," Bobby said. "All the demonic signs and omens over the last month." There was literally nothing on the page.
"Are you joking?" Dean asked, looking it over. "There's nothing here!"
"Exactly," Bobby said with a nod.
"Well, come on, there's gotta be something. What about the normal, low-level stuff? You know, exorcisms, that kind of thing," I asked, frowning.
"That's what I'm telling you: there's nothing. It's completely quiet." Bobby said, looking concerned.
"Well how are we supposed to look for Sam?" Dean asked. "What, do we just close our eyes and point?"
My phone started ringing and I grabbed at it, glancing at the caller ID before answering.
"Ash, what have you got for us?" I said, glancing at Dean who was watching me intently.
"Okay, listen, it's a big negatory on Sam." Ash said to me.
"What? Come on! Ash, you 've gotta have something. We're looking at a three thousand-mile haystack here." I said to him, biting my lip.
"Listen, Beth, I did find something," Ask said.
"What?" I asked, barely containing my frustration.
"I can't talk over this line, Beth," he said to me.
"Come on, we don't have time for this!" I said angrily.
"Make time, okay! Because this …. hey what's up, what's going on?" I frowned, was he talking to me? No, I realised he was talking to someone who had walked up behind him at the Roadhouse. I continued to listen, rolling my eyes at Dean who was now frowning. Ash came back on the line, talking in a hushed tone. "Not only does this most definitely help you find your brother, this is... it's huge. So get here. Now!" The line went dead and I pulled the phone back from my ear, frowning.
"What?" Dean asked impatiently.
"Wouldn't say, says he can't talk over an unsecured line," I said to him.
Dean sighed, looking from me to Bobby. "I guess we're going to the Roadhouse. Come on."
Unknown Location
Sam's POV
Jake was looking at me incredulously, and I couldn't say that I blamed him.
"So, we're soldiers in a demon war to bring on the Apocalypse?" He asked, staring at me with deep dark eyes.
"When you put it like that..." I said, it did sound a little crazy.
"And we've been picked?" Jake interrupted.
"Yes." I said.
"Why us?" He asked. Maybe he was getting it. Well, out of all the people here, he was a soldier, just like I was a hunter. He knew about life and death, war and duty.
"I'm not sure, okay? But look, I just know..."
"Sam, I'm sorry. Psychic and spoon-bending is one thing, but demons?" Ava interrupted me.
"Look," I said, "I know it sounds crazy, but..."
"It doesn't just sound it," Jake said with a snort.
"I don't really care what you think, okay?" I said, starting to get a little exasperated. "If we're all gathered here together, then that means it's starting and that we've gotta..."
"The only thing I've gotta do is stay away from whackjobs, okay?" Jake said, looking at me. "I've heard enough. I'm better off on my own." He glanced at all the others. "FYI, so are you."
"Jake, hold on, Jake!" I said, calling out as he started to walk away. He ignored me and kept on walking. I followed him, determined we should stick together. He'd gotten a head start on me because I had to convince the others to follow, but I saw him head into a building and I jogged to catch up.
There was a sound of laughter and then I heard Jake shout out. I ran into the building, Jake was cringing against a wall, a girl in front of him with claws for fingers: she was getting ready to slice him up. I saw an iron poker by an old potbelly stove and I grabbed it, swinging it at the girl. She disappeared in a cloud of black smoke. Ava, Andy and Lily came running in the door as it blew past, escaping the room.
"Just so you know," I said, pointing with the poker. "That was a demon." Jake was trying to catch his breath, he looked terrified.
I walked back outside, Jake followed me. "That thing...I'm not sure, but I think it was an Acheri. A demon that disguises itself as a little girl." I said, looking around at the others. "That still doesn't tell us where we are. Andy are you with me or what?" I asked, looking at the guy.
Andy looked at me stunned. "Give me a minute. I'm still working through, 'Demons are real,'" he said. I smirked, leave it to Andy to somehow manage to work through this all and still crack a joke about it.
We moved as a group along the road. There was a large, rusty bell hanging from a wooden structure.
"I've seen that bell before. I think I know where we are now," I said, looking up. "Cold Oak, South Dakota. A town so haunted, every single resident fled." I remembered reading about it some time when doing research on poltergeists.
"Swell," Ava said. "Good to know we're somewhere so historical."
"Why in the world would that demon, or whatever, put us here?" Lily asked.
"I'm wondering the same thing," I said quietly. I'd been wondering it for a while now.
"You know what? It doesn't matter. Clearly, the only sane thing to do here is get the hell out of dodge." Lily said.
"Wait, hold on. Lily, the only way out is through miles of woods," I said to her. The roads here had been long left to ruin.
"Beats hanging out with demons," Lily said, turning to walk away.
"Lily, look, we don't know what's going on yet. I mean, we don't even know how many of them are out there right now." I said to her, I had to make her see sense.
"Yeah, he's right," Jake agreed with me. "We should..."
"Don't say 'we'! I'm not part of 'we'. I have nothing in common with any of you!" Lily snapped at us.
I reached a hand out to her. "Okay, look. I know..."
"You don't know anything!" Lily said, spinning to face me, she paused, looking at me with anguish in her eyes. "I accidentally touched my girlfriend," she said pointedly. The reality of what she had told us sunk in, and everyone looked stunned.
"I'm sorry," I said quietly to her.
"Whatever," Lily said quietly. "I feel like I'm in a nightmare, and it just keeps getting worse and worse."
"I've lost people too," I said to her. "I have a brother and sister out there right now, who could be dead for all I know. We're all in bad shape. But I'm telling you, the best way out of this is to stick together."
"Fine," Lily said softly, sad eyes watching me.
I led the five of us through the town, explaining to them what we needed to stay safe from the demons. "We're looking for iron, silver, salt – any kind of weapon."
"Salt is a weapon?" Jake asked as I stomped up the stairs and into a building.
"It's a brave new world," I said with a half-smile.
"Well, hopefully there's food in your world, because I'm frickin' starving," Andy said morosely.
Harvelle's Roadhouse
Nebraska
Beth's POV
Bobby was riding with us in the Impala, no point in taking two cars at this point. I was in the back, staring out the window as we went. Turning around the corner up to the Roadhouse I heard Dean give an exclamation of shock.
"What the Hell?" He muttered, pulling the car to a halt. I looked up, the Roadhouse was nothing more than a smoking charred ruin. We were too late.
"Oh God..." I muttered, feeling my face go white.
We all got out of the car, walking among the debris. It was still hot underfoot, the fire couldn't have happened more than a few hours ago. There was just nothing left.
"Oh my God," Bobby said taking it all in. There were bodies littered among the debris, the Roadhouse always had a few hunters hanging out there, it was always busy, clearly things had been business as usual when the attack happened.
"You see Ellen?" Dean asked urgently.
I shook my head, still looking around. "No, nothing."
"No Ash either," Bobby said. Dean stopped and looked down around his feet. He bent down all of a sudden and pulled on something. I walked over and realised it was Ash's watch, and it was still attached to his burnt corpse.
"Oh Ash..." I breathed sadly.
"Dammit!" Dean said, dropping the arm and looking up at me. He was starting to look distressed and it wasn't just the Roadhouse. Our one clue to Sam had just literally gone up in smoke.
Cold Oak, South Dakota
Sam's POV
I was looking around in one of the houses, there was a surprising amount of stuff left behind when the town was abandoned. Unfortunately not a lot of it was any good to warding off demons. I started to rummage through a chest on the floor, finding a knife, at least that might be of some use.
Standing up I turned to face Ava, who had been following me around. She was rubbing her head, looking a little pained.
"Hey, you all right?" I asked.
"Yeah, I'm just... I don't know, a little dizzy," she replied, blinking a few times.
I was a bit concerned, thinking about when my head hurt like that. "Are you sure it's not some kind of..."
"What?" Ava interrupted. "Some kind of freaky vision thing?" I raised my eyebrow at her and nodded.
"No," she said. "More like I'd kill for a sandwich. I haven't eaten since...well, who knows? No, don't worry, I'm fine. Except for every single thing that's happening."
Andy called out to use from another room. "Hey guys! I found something!"
We crossed into the other room where Andy was holding up two large sacks, one in each hand.
"Salt!" He exclaimed triumphantly.
"That great, Andy. Now, we all can..." I stopped looking around. "Where's Lily?" Everyone looked around for the other girl, but she wasn't nearby.
"Lily?" Ava called out.
"Lily!" I yelled, a sinking feeling coming into my stomach. There was the sound of a little girl giggling nearby. I led the way outside, the others following.
"Oh my God!" Ava cried out, looking up at the water tower. Hanging by a rope, was Lily, and she wasn't moving.
"Okay, that's officially – Sam, she's dead!" Ava started to grab at me in a panic. "She's dead! You said we were chosen for a reason. That is not chosen! That's killed!" I looked at her, my own sense of panic starting to rise in my chest. What the Hell was going on here? "Okay, we have to get out of here." Shesaid, starting to walk away, as if to leave.
"Stop!" I just needed to think, I couldn't let her hysteria wash over me and carry me with her.
"Yeah, I second that emotion," Andy agreed, looking sick.
"Not sure that's an option," Jake said, looking over at me. I agreed with him.
"Lily was trying to leave," I explained to her. "The demon's not gonna let us get away that easy. We've gotta gear up for the next attack." I had no idea what that was going to be, or what his game plan was, but I knew without a doubt that if we separated we would find ourselves in worse shape.
"Oh, gear up?" Ava asked sarcastically.
"Yeah," I said, nodding.
"Okay, well, I'm not a soldier. I can't do that!" Ava shouted at me, hysterical.
"Well, if you want to stay alive, you're going to have to. Let's go," I said sternly, it was time to try some of Dad's tough love.
"I'll get her down," Jake said, indicating Lily and I nodded. I ran a hand over my face, trying to think about our next move.
"You know, it's funny given how much they both annoy me most of the time. But Dean and Beth would really be a big help right now. I'd give my arm for a working phone." I said to no one in particular.
Andy looked like he was having a brainwave. "You know, you may not need one. I've never tried it long-distance before, but do you have anything of Dean's on you? Or Beth? Like, something that either of them touched?" He asked.
I thought about it and started to search my pockets. "Uh… I've got a receipt. Would that work?" I asked, pulling out the receipt from our last gas stop.
"Yeah," Andy said with a nod. He took the receipt from me and looked at the signature on there. "D. Hasselhoff?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, that's Dean's signature." Andy stared at me, confused. "It's hard to explain," I said to him.
"All right," Andy said with a shrug. He started to concentrate, closing his eyes, and I hoped that Dean wasn't driving or something when this hit him. If it hit him. I kind of wished Beth had been the one to sign the receipt; it seemed to me that she might be more receptive to getting a vision, what with her demon sense thing and all. I wondered how she was going with that, because if she turned up here, we'd need her in action, not incapacitated.
Roadhouse, Nebraska
Beth's POV
We looked, but there was nothing that stood out to us, nothing that Ash might have left us to indicate where Sam was. We had moved back toward the car, still looking at the ruins of the Roadhouse before us.
"This is…." Bobby started to say something but then trailed off, shaking his head in shock.
"What the hell did Ash know?" Dean asked angrily, looking at me. "We've got no way of knowing where Ellen is. Or if she's even alive. We've got no clue what Ash was going to tell us. Now, how the hell are we going to find Sam?"
"We'll find him Dean," I said to him, hoping my words were a little more reassuring than how I felt.
Suddenly Dean clutched at his head, doubling over with a groan.
"Dean?" I said, startled. I rushed over to him, Bobby joining me, and I tentatively touched his shoulder. Dean groaned, his eyes shut tight. After a moment he stood up, grimacing.
"What was that?" Bobby asked, looking surprised.
"I don't know. A headache?" Dean muttered.
"You get headaches like that a lot?" Bobby asked, concerned.
"No, he doesn't," I said, frowning and touching his face, turning him to look at me as I assessed his eyes. He let me fuss over him, which told me that he was a little rattled by what had just happened.
"Must be the stress," Dean said with a chuckle and I tutted at him. "I could have sworn I saw something," he commented thoughtfully.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Like a vision? Like what Sam gets?" Bobby interceded, looking on sternly.
"What?!" Dean scoffed. "No!" He shook his head vehemently and then groaned a little, closing his eyes. Obviously whatever it was had just done a number on his head.
"I'm just saying," Bobby said gruffly.
"Come on, I'm not some psychic!" Dean scoffed. Suddenly he doubled over again, falling against the car. I grabbed at him, almost in a panic. He groaned loudly, his breath coming in short bursts.
"Dean? Dean!" I said, clutching at his shoulders. "Are you all right?" It took him a few moments before he replied.
"Yeah," he mumbled. "Yeah I think so. I saw Sam. I saw him, Beth." He clutched my arms, using me to steady himself and I looked over at Bobby.
"It was a vision," Bobby said with a frown.
"Yeah. I don't know how, but yeah," he said, leaning heavily against the side of the car. "Whew! That was about as fun as getting kicked in the jewels," he said with a small chuckle, looking at me. I looked sympathetically at him, still worried.
"What else did you see?" I asked.
"Uh…there was a bell," Dean said, thinking.
"What kind of bell?" Bobby asked.
"Like a big bell with some kind of engraving on it, I don't know," Dean said.
"Engraving?" I mused, thinking out loud. Dean nodded.
"Yeah," he replied. I shook my head; it wasn't familiar to me.
"Was it a tree?" Bobby asked suddenly. "Like, an oak tree?"
Dean nodded, looking surprised. "Yeah, exactly." Bobby looked excited, moving toward the car.
"I know where Sam is!" He said.
Cold Oak, South Dakota
Sam's POV
Night had fallen, and we were still on the lookout for weapons we could use against a demon attack. Jake and I were in the barn, and I was trying to break off some iron bars that were attached to one of the machines in there. Jake simply grabbed one of the bars and ripped it off with his bare hands. I stared at him, stunned.
"I'm not Superman or anything. It's no big deal," Jake said with a shrug.
"You were in Afghanistan when this started?" I asked. Jake nodded at me.
"Yeah, I started getting headaches. And then there was this accident. This guy flipped his vehicle on a bad road. He got pinned underneath. I lifted it off him like it was nothing." I nodded, encouraging him to go on. "Everybody said it was a fluke adrenaline thing."
"But then you did it again, right?" I asked. He nodded.
"Bench-pressed 800 pounds, stone-cold calm. I never told anybody, of course. It was just too crazy." He said with a chuckle.
"Yeah. Crazy's relative," I said with a laugh.
"I'm starting to get that," he said to me. I nodded. "By the way, I appreciate what you're doing here." I looked at him in surprise.
"What am I doing?" I asked, genuinely curious.
"Keeping calm. Keeping them calm," he said to me quietly, throwing a glance back toward the building where Andy and Ava were. "Especially considering how freaked to Hell you really are. I've been in some deep crap before myself. I know the look."
He had me pegged. I was starting to freak out, and I'd been really working hard at keeping it together, thankfully Dad had taught us well. I sighed and looked at him.
"You want to know the truth? I've got this brother and sister, right? And they're always telling me how they're going to watch out for me, how everything's going to be okay." I paused and looked at him. "You know, kind of like I've been telling Andy and Ava."
"Yeah?" Jake said.
"I don't know if I believe it this time." I said to him, frowning. "I mean, the size of what's coming – it's bigger than anyone has ever seen. I mean, it's gonna get bad. I don't even know if they're alive now, I mean I was with them when I disappeared – they weren't more than ten yards away just outside the building…." I stopped and collected my thoughts. Of course they were okay, they had to be, they had to be looking for me, and they'd come, just like they always did.
"I don't know if we're…" I trailed off, unable to voice that thought.
"If we're gonna make it?" Jake asked, saying it for me. I nodded. "It doesn't matter if we believe it," he continued. "Only matters that they do."
We finished up what we were doing and headed back to the building we were preparing to bunker down in for the night.
I was with Ava, lining the doors and windows with salt.
"My horoscope said I shouldn't have gotten out of bed," Ava said to me. "How you doing? Holding up?" She asked me.
"I'm okay. What about you?" I asked her.
"Not so okay," she admitted. "Why us Sam? What did we do to deserve this?"
"Just lucky, I guess," I said with a shrug.
"If it wasn't for bad luck, we'd have no luck at all. I just can't wait for this all to be over so I can just pretend it never happened. I just wanna curl up with Brady and watch bad TV." I shifted uncomfortably at the mention of her fiancée's name, she'd gotten distracted before when she mentioned him, but she didn't miss the look this time.
"What is it? Sam…do you know something that I don't?" Ava asked me, looking concerned all of a sudden.
"Look, Ava…I'm sorry. I wish I didn't have to tell you this." I said gently, wondering how I was going to break the news to her.
"Tell me what?" Ava asked.
"When the demon broke into your house to take you…your fiancée didn't make it. I'm sorry." I said, and watched as that truth sunk in. She panicked, her eyes brimming over with tears as the reality of what I had said hit home like a ton of bricks.
"No, that's …. No!" She broke down and I pulled her into my arms, holding her while she sobbed. I knew how she felt; it wasn't the first time we'd all lost someone in this demon war, or whatever it was. It probably wouldn't be the last either.
A few hours later and I was struggling to stay awake, I was loathe to fall asleep, but I couldn't remember the last time I'd actually closed my eyes and gotten some rest and it was starting to catch up with me.
Suddenly the Yellow-Eyed Demon appeared in the room and I reared back.
"Jake! Behind you!" I yelled at the sleeping soldier, but he didn't hear me.
"Howdy Sam," said the demon to me, and I suddenly realised what was happening.
"I'm dreaming," I said to him.
"What do you say you and I take a little walk?" He asked me, and I tentatively followed him outside.
"You're awfully quiet, Sam. You're not mad at me, are you?" He said to me and I fought to maintain my composure.
"I'm gonna tear you to shreds, I swear to…" My tirade was cut off by a short chuckle from the demon.
"When you take up, Tiger, you give it your best shot." He said, unfazed by my comments.
"Where is my brother and sister?" I asked with a glare.
"Quite worrying about Dean and Beth. I'd worry more about yourself," he said with a smile.
"Why? You going to kill me?" I asked, almost wishing he would just get it over with sometimes.
"I'm trying to help you," the demon said to me. "That's why we're talking. You're the one I'm rooting for."
I stared at him, confused. "What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.
"Welcome to the Miss America pageant," he said to me. "Why do you think you're here? This is a competition! Only one of you crazy kids is gonna make it out of here alive."
I frowned, not understanding what he was getting at. "I thought we were supposed to be…"
"Soldiers in a coming war?" The demon interrupted. "That's true, you are. But here's the thing: I don't need soldiers. I need a soldier. I just need the one."
"Why?" I asked.
"Well, I couldn't just come out and say that, could I, Sam? I had to let everyone think they had a fighting chance. But what I need is a leader." He said. I felt sick to my stomach.
"To lead who?" I asked warily.
"Oh, I've already got my army. Or I will soon, anyway." He said with a smirk.
"You son of a bitch," I said, borrowing Dean's favourite saying.
"Honestly, I'm surprised you hadn't guessed. I mean, why do you think so many children flamed out already? Max Miller and Andy's brother, what's-his-name – they weren't strong enough. I'm looking for the best and brightest of your generation." He said. Something about how he said that made me suspicious.
"My generation?" I asked.
"Well, there's other generations, but let's just worry about yours," he said. "That's why I'm here, Sam. I want to give you the inside track. You're tough. You're smart. You're well-trained, thanks to your daddy." I glared at him when he mentioned Dad. I hadn't forgotten who currently held on to his soul. "Sam – Sammy – you're my favourite."
I wanted to just throttle the life out of him. "You ruined my life. You killed everyone I love!"
"The cost of doing business, I'm afraid. I mean, sweet little Jessica – she just had to die. You were all set to marry that little blonde thing, become a tax lawyer with two kids, a beer gut, and a little McMansion in the suburbs. I needed you sharp on the road, honing your skills. Your gifts. Reunited with that pair of crazy hunters you call a brother and sister."
"What about my mom?" I asked.
"That was bad luck," he said shrugging at me.
"Bad luck?!" I said incredulously.
"It wasn't about her. It was about you. It's always been about you," he said to me, and I stared.
"What?" I asked.
"Well… okay. You caught me in a charitable mood. I'll show you," he said to me, snapping his fingers. Suddenly I found myself standing in my nursery; I assumed it was the night that my mom died.
"Look familiar?" The demon said to me. "It should."
I was just a baby, a six-month old lying in a crib, crying while the Yellow-Eyed Demon from the past stood over me. I started to move toward the crib, angry, and the current demon grabbed me.
"Relax, Sam, this is just a hi-def instant replay. Enjoy the show," he said.
Mom came into the room; she was wearing a long white nightgown, her hair hanging around her shoulders. She looked tired. She saw the demon at the cot and blinked.
"John?" She questioned, the demon gestured to her.
"Mom!" I said to her, panicked, but she couldn't hear me.
"Is he hungry?" Mom asked the demon, thinking it was Dad.
"Shhh," the demon said to her, waving her off.
"Okay…" She shrugged and turned to leave the room.
"Wait, Mom! Mom!" I called out to her, but she didn't stop or turn around.
The demon sighed at me. "What did I just tell you, Sam? She can't hear you. This isn't real." I glared at him, frustrated and angry at my inability to do anything to change what was going to happen.
I watched as the demon hovering over my crib sliced open his wrist with his own nail, it made a sickening sound. The blood welled in the cut and then started to drip, and he held the wound over my infant mouth.
"What the hell are you doing to me?" I asked.
"Better than mother's milk," he said with a chuckle. I looked frantically at him, the realisation hitting me like a tonne of bricks.
"Does this mean I have demon blood in me?" I asked. The demon chuckled again. "Answer me!"
Mom suddenly rushed back into the room. The demon over the cot turned to her, revealing his yellow coloured eyes. She reeled back, stunned.
"It's you!" She said, recognition in her voice.
"She knew you," I said, frowning.
Mom started to walk closer, but the demon used his powers to throw her back against the wall. I watched in horror as she was forced slowly up the wall until she was pinned to the ceiling, struggling against a force beyond her control.
"No! No!" I shouted, I couldn't help myself.
"I don't think you want to see the rest of this," the demon said and he snapped his fingers.
I found myself back in the building again, jolting out of my sleep.
"Sam, wake up! Ava's missing!" Jake said, shaking me. We went outside, looking around. "I'll take the barn and hotel. You take the houses," he said to me.
"All right. Meet back here in ten minutes, okay?" I said, being cautious. Jake nodded his agreement and walked off. I started to search through the houses. Suddenly I heard screaming from back at the building where we'd been holding up. It was Ava!
I hurried back and went inside. She was crying and pointing at the ground. I looked down and saw Andy's body, mutilated. He was dead.
"Sam! I just found him like this!" Ava said to me, tears streaming down her face.
"How'd that thing get in?" I asked frantically. "Where were you?"
"I just went to get some water from the well. I was only gone maybe, like, two minutes!" Ava said to me.
"You shouldn't have gone outside. Ava, we have to stay in here." I paced, looking around. How had that demon gotten inside? I turned and looked at the window sill; there was a broken line through the salt. I turned back to her, pointing at it.
"Who did that?" I asked shortly.
"I don't know, maybe Andy…" Ava started to say, but I shook my head. I didn't believe her.
"Andy wouldn't do that. Ava, that line wasn't broken when I left." I stared at her, something just wasn't adding up. The time she'd been gone, the fact that she'd been a hell of a lot more freaked out about a mere vision five months ago, than she was now about the whole demon thing. In fact, she seemed incredibly well adjusted, all considered.
"What?" Ava said to me, throwing me an incredulous look. "You don't think that I….?"
"I'll tell you what I think: five months," I said to her. "You're the only one with all that time you can't account for. And that headache you got? Right when the demon got Lily…" I stared at her, what the hell had she been through these past few months?
"What are you trying to say?" She asked.
"What happened to you?" I asked, looking at her sadly.
"Nothing!" Ava insisted, big round eyes looking at me.
I stared at her, not buying into the act. She stared back and then she started to smile.
"Had you going though, didn't I?" She asked all of a sudden, wiping her eyes. She shrugged and looked at me. "Yeah. I've been here a long time. And not alone, either. People just keep showing up. Children, like us. Batches of three or four at a time."
I shook my head. "You killed them? All of them?"
"I'm the undefeated heavyweight champ," she said with a smirk.
"Oh my God," I said, stunned. I didn't know what to say to this revelation.
"Don't think God has much to do with this, Sam," Ava snarled.
"How could you?" I asked, still trying to get my head around how a sweet, innocent girl like Ava could have given in so quickly to the darkness, to the temptation of killing.
"I had no choice," Ava said with a shrug. "It was me or them. After a while it was easy. It was even kind of fun. I just stopped fighting it," she said.
"Fighting what?" I asked.
"Who we are, Sam. If you just quit your hand-wringing and open yourself up, you have no idea what you can do. The learning curve is so fast, it's crazy, the switches that just flip in your brain." She was smiling, giddy with power. "I can't believe I started out just having dreams. Do you know what I can do now?"
I stared at her, I had a fair idea. "Control demons," I said to her.
"Ah, you are quick on the draw," she smirked, putting her hands to her head. "Yeah, I'm sorry, Sam. But it's over."
The black cloud of smoke had reappeared just outside the window. It was about to enter where the salt line was broken. Just as I had made up my mind to act, Jake entered the building from behind Ava. He reached out and in an instant he had twisted her neck, breaking it. She fell to the ground, broken, and the demonic smoke disappeared.
Just outside Cold Oak, South Dakota
Beth's POV
We pulled up to the side of the road in the Impala. Bobby was looking out the window, contemplating. The road was blocked, overgrown from years of no use, the woods was slowly claiming back its territory from modern man.
"Looks like the rest of the way's on foot," Bobby commented, and Dean sighed, looking back at me.
"Let's go," he said, getting out of the car.
We opened the trunk and grabbed the weapons we needed, a bit of everything, because we didn't know what we were up again. Mostly we grabbed weapons against demons, although for the life of me, I couldn't feel anything around at all.
"Nothing," I said to Dean as I opened the shotgun and put in some salt shells. "I don't feel anything demonic at all," I said, my stomach was nervous, but it wasn't sick or debilitating like how it usually was around demons. I didn't even have to say my mantra.
Dean frowned but didn't say anything, just grabbing his own weapon and then slamming the trunk closed.
We headed into the woods, using our flash-lights to light the way through the brush and bracken. I cursed as a branch swung back in my face and I felt the sting of a cut opening up.
"Bloody hell," I said. "It's never easy!"
Dean chucked and kept on moving, falling quiet as we got further along.
Cold Oak, South Dakota
Sam's POV
"I think we can make it out of here now," I said to Jake, starting to move for the woods.
"But the Acheri demon…" Jake said hesitantly, looking doubtful.
"No, no, no. Ava was summoning it, controlling it. It shouldn't come back now that she's dead," I explained. "We've gotta go."
"Not 'we', Sam. Only one of us is getting out of here. I'm sorry," Jake said and I turned to face him, shocked.
"What?" I asked.
"I had a vision. That Yellow-Eyed Demon or whatever it was, he talked to me. He told me how it was." Jake said, his eyes glittering cold.
"No, Jake, listen. You can't listen to him," I said, reaching out a hand toward him.
"Sam, he's not letting us go. Only one. Now, if we don't play along, he'll kill us both." Jake said, he sighed. "Now, I like you, man. I do. But do the math here. What good does it do for both of us to die?" He had that crazed look of a desperate man in his eyes and I felt my mouth go dry. "Now, I can get out of here. I get close to the demon, I can kill the bastard."
"You come with me, we can kill him together," I said to him. Did he think we had never tried it? He had no idea what he was going up against!
"How do I know you won't turn on me?" Jake asked suspiciously.
"I won't," I said simply.
"I don't know that," he replied.
"Okay, look," I said with a sigh, pulling my knife out of my jacket. I held it up for him to see and then I placed it on the ground.
"Just come with me Jake. Don't do this. Don't play into what it wants." I had to get through to him, to make him see that if we gave in, we all lost.
Jake looked at me for a long moment, and then placed his weapon on the ground as well.
"Okay," I said, relieved. It was short lived. Without warning Jake launched himself at me, punching me. He hit hard, and I flew across the field, crashing to the ground. I was winded, gasping for breath. Jake approached me, kicking down the fence and leaning over me.
I scrambled to my feet, and punched him back. We struggled together, getting a grip on one another, no one gaining ground over the other. Finally I was thrown near the iron bar that Jake had laid down and I grabbed it, swinging and knocking him out. I hit him again, and held the bar over him. I wanted to kill him, to finish it, the anger inside of me bubbling up like lava from a volcano. But I thought about Dean and Beth and how hard they had fought for me, to not give in to the demon blood – without even knowing that was what we were fighting.
I thought about Dad and how disappointed he would be if I were to give in to the temptation. How he had told Dean and Beth to kill me if they couldn't save me. I had to save myself now; I was the only one here.
Stepping back, I let it all go.
Cold Oak, South Dakota
Beth's POV
The woods had given way to a road, and we were making better progress. Sam appeared before us in the middle of the road, he was standing over a body, holding an iron rod.
"Sammy…" I muttered, and I started to jog toward him, Dean right by my side.
"Sam!" Dean called out, and he turned to look at us.
"Dean!" Sam called out with a relieved smile. We were almost there, we almost had him within range.
The guy at Sam's feet suddenly sprung to life, grabbing something off the ground.
"Sam, look out!" Dean shouted, but it was too late. I watched in horror as the guy took a knife and stabbed it right into Sam's back. Sam's face contorted in surprise and shock as he fell to his knees.
"No!" I yelled, and we ran even faster to get to him. Sam fell and Dean caught him. I veered off chasing the guy, Bobby hot on my heels. We crashed through the undergrowth of the woods as he raced to get ahead of me. I pulled my handgun out of my thigh holster and dropped the shotgun, making it easier to move.
"Beth!" Bobby was calling out to me, but I kept pushing through. I'd lost sight of the guy, he'd been in army fatigues, he would easy camouflage into the trees and I knew it, but I didn't want to give up.
"Beth! Come back! He's gone!" Bobby shouted and I stopped, spinning in circles, breathing hard.
"Oh God," I muttered, straining in the dark. We were in the open and I didn't like it, although I was fairly certain that guy was long gone.
I hurried back to join Bobby and we headed back to Dean. I couldn't have been gone more than a couple of minutes.
Dean hadn't moved since I'd left and I was puzzled. "Dean?" I asked, running up to him and falling to my knees beside him and Sam. Sam wasn't moving. I put my hand on Sam's back, pulling it back when I felt something hot and wet, it was covered in blood.
"It's not that bad, it's not that bad," Dean was saying. "All right? Sammy? Hey listen to me, we're gonna patch you up ok? You're gonna be good as new. We're gonna take care of you. We're gonna take care of you. I've got you." He looked up at me, his eyes panicked.
"Dean…" I said, tears falling from my eyes as I watched them.
"That's our job right?" Dean said, "Watch out for our pain-in-the-ass little brother?" He looked at Sam. "Sam?" I bit my lip. He wasn't moving, he wasn't moving!
"He's not moving! Sammy?" I said, touching Sam's face. Sam looked from Dean to me and then his eyes slid shut. His body fell forward.
"No, no, no, no, no, God…" I said, looking at him. Dean grabbed Sam tightly to him, tears streaming down his face.
"Sam!" Dean yelled and it broke my heart. We'd failed. We were too late. We were too late.
~ To be continued ~
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Song for this chapter is: One Last Breath by Creed
Big wave to Paddy because I just love your reviews, you make me chuckle (especially since I usually get two from you! Haha) Thanks for all your feedback, love it :D And yes, I love the smut too. Seriously, no one believes me when I'm like the characters write the stories, not me … I have ideas on where I think it needs to go, but half the time they end up in a completely different place (the pregnancy was a good example, I never planned that!) So that's what I mean when I say, it wrote itself. I'm just the vessel hahaha But yeah, it'll happen when it happens, if it fits and it wants to come out, not much I can do about it :D
So I gotta keep it short because I need to get ready for work. But! There is a Facebook fan page happening which I've been sort of working on. I'll probably ramble there occasionally and talk storyline etc. if anyone is interested. It'll also be a place people can put fan art and videos etc. as I've had a couple of suggestions about doing that (my own is pretty sad, but I do it anyway!) So you're welcome to come check it out – you can search for Dean & Beth Supernatural, it should bring it up, or try going to facebook, and putting the following after the .com part :D (bloody FanFic and their ridiculous not letting you put in links crap!) You can also PM me and I'll email the link to you if you prefer.
/ pages/ Dean-Beth-Supernatural-Fanfic/ 616741445012946
That being said: If you want to do fan art around these guys, or videos, or whatever – I would so LOVE THAT! I only have one request, and that's, please, pretty please try to stick with Rose Byrne for Beth! :D
As always, a big hug and thanks to EarthhAngel for her support, proofing, and ongoing Supernatural obsession that fuels mine :D
Please everyone, leave a review and let me know what you think! Hope you like it, won't be long and Part 2 will be up!